Cantillon FouFoune

Brewed by Cantillon
Style: Lambic - Fruit
Brussels, Belgium

Serve in Flute, Tumbler

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UPDATED: OCT 26, 2010 Update. 2006 vintage, consumed in September 2010. Dear lord, this is a ridiculously bad ass beer. It just keeps getting better and better with age. This most recent experience displayed an initial softness to the fruit that wasn’t present in its brash, youthful state. Still, the groundswell of intensity builds with each sip, bordering on full-out sour apricot beauty amidst a complex citrus gueuze-like finish. Excellent stuff. Note to self.....acquire more of this by whatever means necessary. This might just be my favorite fruit lambic of all time.

Original rating (circa 2008, from both fresh draft and year old bottles). A clear, glistening, golden-orange body is topped with a thin, wispy film with a bubbly, off-white rim. Sudsy micro-spots of lace show like constellations in the night sky. As soon as liquid hits glass, an explosion of sour fruits and barnyard funk dart for the nose. Intense lambic sourness attacks relentlessly, while scents of sun warmed apricot skins and acidic apple cider vinegar fight through the lingering, cloudy, farmhouse funk. The first sip comes with a cringe inducing, mouth puckering assault. This stuff is heavy duty sour.....sucking on a lemon sour......but if you can handle it, you are rewarded with luscious, juicy apricot, nectarine and green apple goodness. The light carbonation and classic lambic body are perfect, as any fizziness would surely intensify the acidic punch beyond tolerable levels. This is a fantastic beer, but make sure you are well versed in sours before you go anywhere near this bad boy. You have to crawl before you can sprint.

Pours a golden orange honestly it is the color of an apricot. The beer has a big head that leaves some lace. The aroma is lots of barn-yardiness, but with a lot of apricot fruitiness in there as well with some both clean and dirty laundry. The flavor smacks you in the face right away with apricot, fresh, delicious apricots. The beer is very very sour. It’s also really dry with a dryness akin to say a brut. The fruitiness continues with some lemon rind earthy on sour notes. Dominantly this beer is packed with sourness and apricot flavor. The palate is fizzy but remarkably full and easy to drink. Just one damn fine beer.

On tap at Monk’s A: Pours a nice bright orange hue with a touch of fizz that never really managed much of a head. No real retention or lace. S: Wow I liked this beer in the bottle love it on draft. Wonderful aromas of dried apricots. There is a big sour acidic aroma as well. Lots of leather and citrus, mildly earthy. T: Love in a glass. Tons of earthy apricot with a nice level of tartness. Lightly acidic with strong citrus notes and peach pits. Really is a joy to drink. M: On the lighter side of medium, somewhat dry finish. D: Good, this one was served in a small proper cantillon glass. I could easily sit back and enjoy an entire bottle though. One of my favorite sours.

750 ml bottle from trade with Kyle. Pours a cloudy apricot color with a small white head that quickly dissipates to zilch. The aroma is funky with tart fruits that remind me more of green apples than of apricots. The taste is rich and complex with a myriad of sour fruit sensations; i get, apples, grapes, apricots, grapefruit and mangoes. All nicely sour and funky. As I progress through the bottle the apricot flavor, which was barely discernible at first, gets bolder and bolder. The palate is full and silky smooth with lively carbonation. Finishes long and pleasantly sour with an aftertaste of big bold apricots. Overall: Lambics are not my strong suit, and sometimes I question whether or not I could spot a good one. All I know is that I really liked this.

UPDATED: AUG 22, 2011 Hazy nectar pour with a beautiful white frothy head that lingers amazingly. Aroma is explosive with peach and apricot nectar with backnotes of nectarine, mandarin orange, fresh pressed apple cider, and mild funky farm notes. Flavor presents itself in the form of super tart funken nectar-cider with acetic acid and huge peachy apricot notes. It really just makes me want to smile- yes I have a shit eating grin on right now. Tannic oak and musty barnyard present as well, allowing for further proliferation of the nectar oriented notes. Palate is bracing, rude, lacerative, and amazing. Mouthfeel is slippery, full, and billowy with fine bubbled effervescence. I’m blown away again...

I’ve had this about 4 times since, and it just keeps getting better...drink it fresh!

UPDATED: AUG 20, 2011 Cloudy apricot, gold pour. Damn what a beer! Man oh man. Rerate! Sour apricot amazingness! Sour, funky, sour! Apricot flavor is nice, sourness rocks...damn straight. Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah and FUCK yeah.

2010 375ml Japanese edition bottle shared with Weisguy & lamplighter for one of our small weekly tastings. Served slightly chilled, a huge head appeared on a fast pour decanted into one glass to share between the three of us. Hard to tell how much sediment was left, but I would guess 1-2 ounces. Color was a light yellow with a gold hue up to the light with a couple tiny bits of sediment swimming around. Smell was sharp fruit and some vinegar. Described by Ari as "smelling a peach pit." Notes of peach and apricot skin were very evident. The taste was an intense combination of resiny sour apricot and fruity acidity, while much funk was almost nowhere to be found. Unnoticeable alcohol on the palate and finish, but a slight burn from the acidity was present. Mouthfeel was medium bodied and I’m sure it would have been a cinch for any of us to drink over a liter of this. I’ve had Fou’foune a few times (many courtesy of Weisguy), including a fresh 750 of the 2010 bottling, but this bottle stood out as nearly a whole nother beer than what I tasted before. Much more fruit on the nose and tongue, while the balanced acidity made for a very enjoyable lambic.

3/10 i mörkhet. Frisk, syrlig och citrusaktig i lukten. Extremt syrlig och frisk i smaken. Syrlig och frisk eftersmak.

From notes. First reviewed 8/9/2011. Poured from a caged and corked 750 mL bottle into a tasting glass. This has a very elegant hazy golden yellow appearance in the glass. With its translucence it appears almost angelic, although I might just be thinking that because I am so excited to try it. A ring of white head rests in the edge of the glass, remaining mellow and not bothering to leave much lace. This aroma is fantastic, just the perfect balance for a summer beer. A little bit sour, with just a hint of funk, there is a ton of apricot that screams refreshment. The flavor is really a progression of apricot. Up front it starts sweet, like biting into a ripe apricot. It shifts to become more sour, gaining momentum from an acidity that starts in the periphery and eventually makes me pucker. On subsequent sips this sensation subsides and I distinguish some lactic sourness and a light mustiness at the end. The body to Fou’ Foune is light to medium, with a good amount of carbonation that is mostly creamy but provides a bit of crispy pep as well. Overall in line with what I want from a beer of this nature. Fairly dry and tart. It is a cruel joke that this beer is so hard to come by in the United States. I am beginning to wonder if I should move to Belgium just to be able to drink Cantillon all the time. Seriously.

Appearence: Cloudy gold Aroma: apricots, farm, hay Taste: Apricots and sour complex finish Overall: A delight to drink